Republican Party operatives, who wasted no time indicting their Missouri Senate candidate Rep. Todd Akin for his interview faux pas on abortion, may bear more responsibility than Akin himself for the mess that has been created.

Akin’s statement, suggesting low probability of conception in cases of “legitimate rape,” was barely coherent and was said with neither force nor conviction. He said it was a view he “understood from doctors.” And soon after, he apologized.